Vanderbilt MM Health Care Faculty

Vanderbilt faculty bring distinguished expertise and instruction to the classroom. They draw upon extensive experience in health care and business as well as insights from their cutting-edge research. Located in the heart of the nation's premier industry cluster, you’ll learn from health care industry leaders and decision makers—a senator, U.S. Congressman, policy experts, CEOs, entrepreneurs and health care practitioners—who bring industry changes into the classroom. From a renowned faculty known for easy accessibility and their collaborative approach to teaching, you’ll gain knowledge of how business theory and health care delivery come together.

Nicolas Bollen has had more than a dozen research papers accepted for publication since joining Owen's faculty in 2001, including eight in the top finance journals. His current research agenda is focused on hedge funds. Two of his recent papers have been accepted for publication in TheJournal of Finance. Nick’s co-authored paper, “Do Hedge Fund Managers Misreport Returns? Evidence from the Pooled Distribution” was highlighted in TheWall Street Journal and has been downloaded over 1,000 times since it was made publicly available in October 2007.

Luke Froeb joined the Owen faculty in 1993 as an expert in the economics of competition policy. From 2003 to 2005, he was appointed Director of the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission, where government antitrust agencies widely used his merger models to predict anticompetitive behavior.

Steve Hoeffler is an expert in consumer products marketing, brand management and consumer behavior, including the marketing of "really new" (novel) products and the development of consumer preferences. He has also served a variety of marketing roles for NCR/AT&T and has consulted for Procter and Gamble, IBM and Fujitsu.

Debra Jeter is a certified public accountant with a distinguished record of professional achievement and participation in the activities of the American Accounting Association (AAA). She has also won numerous accolades for her teaching excellence. Debra is currently serving on the Editorial Advisory and Review Board of The Accounting Review. She has served as an ad hoc Associate Editor of a second AAA publication, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory and Issues in Accounting Education. The fourth edition of her textbook, Advanced Accounting, coauthored with Paul Chaney, was released in 2009.

Michael Lapré is an internationally known expert on organizational learning curves. He is primarily interested in empirical research on improving organizational performance. Michael has been awarded the Shingo Research Prize, the Stan Hardy Award, Wickham Skinner Awards for Best Paper presented at the annual conference of the Production and Operations Management Society, and the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research at Owen.

Larry LeBlanc is an author and lecturer to professional organizations, an active consultant to industry, and an award-winning educator in the field of operations management and information technology. His research on spreadsheet risk was the topic of a 2009 Financial Times.com article. He has approximately 65 publications in refereed journals and 60 presentations at universities and organizations overseas. Larry has served as a scientific advisor to France Telecom and received a Japanese Government award for travel to Tokyo to study manufacturing efficiencies of Japanese factories.

Rangaraj "Ranga" Ramanujam is a leading researcher and consultant on the organizational causes and consequences of errors in high-risk work settings. His research has appeared in the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Medical Care, Journal of Patient Safety,Journal of Applied Psychology, and other journals.

Gary Scudder earned the Dean's Teaching Award in 1994 and the James E. Webb Teaching Award in 1999. Through the course of his career, he has consulted with a number of large corporations including United Airlines, 3M, IDS, Minnesota Department of Transportation, Teledyne Brown Engineering, Philips Corporation, Motorola, Novartis, RR Donnelly, Air Products, the Methodist General Board of Discipleship, and Bridgestone/Firestone primarily in the areas of managing new product development and strategic planning.

Lawrence Van Horn is a leading expert on health care management and economics. His research on health care organizations, managerial incentives in nonprofit hospitals and the conduct of managed care firms has appeared in such publications as the Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Law and Economics and Harvard Business Review. He has consulted with government and health care organizations and has presented at numerous seminars and conferences sponsored by industry, government and academic institutions.

Burch S. Wood has 16 years of healthcare experience in improving operations and setting strategy for hospitals, health systems, and medical practices. During his career, he has worked for HCA, LifePoint Health, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center – giving him experience in both academic and for-profit healthcare as well as rural, urban, and suburban healthcare markets. His expertise includes healthcare information technology, practice management, perioperative operations, as well as emergency department operations and strategy. Further, he has worked with Owen’s MMHC program since its inception – starting while earning his MBA at Owen!

Affiliated Faculty

Andy Leone is the Department Chair and Professor of Accounting at University of Miami. Prior to becoming a professor, he was the Vice President of Finance at Crompton Modutec. He is the Associate Editor for The Journal of Accounting and Economics. He was the 2005 recipient of the Notable Contribution to Management Accounting Reseach Award. Andy was also listed as Simon School’s “Best Teachers” in BusinessWeek 2000.

Wright Pinson is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Health Affairs and serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Vanderbilt Health System. Recently, he helped organize the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network, a 50 hospital affiliated system covering the state of Tennessee and is the chairman of the board.

Dr. Pinson attended Miami University and the University of Colorado, graduating in 1974 with distinction in Physics. While an engineer for IBM, he completed a Master’s in Business Administration (finance) in 1976. A 1980 graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, he trained in general surgery (OHSU) and completed three fellowships, one as an American Heart Fellow in cardiovascular physiology; one in hepatopancreatobiliary surgery at the Lahey Clinic; and one in transplantation at Harvard University/Deaconess Hospital. He is boarded in surgery and in critical care.

Dr. Pinson has been active in teaching medical students and residents and has served as the program director for the Vanderbilt Integrated General Surgery Residency Program. He cofounded the Masters in Management in Health Care program and is a Professor at the Owen Graduate School of Business.